Love Hina: The Epilogue Chronicles
by One Man Cult
Summary: Unfinished continuation fic. K/N.


Hey y'all!

I know I haven't written anything in a long time, but it's hard for me to find motivation to write at all. I'm the kind that likes to have heaps of ideas going at the same time. I have two more LH fics (Cherish and one I've just started), one Initial D fic, maybe two Evangelion fics and an original fic that I may start. Considering writing is somewhere between scratching my ass and pondering the purpose of holes in cheese on my list of priorities, I don't exactly write a lot. 

This piece was originally supposed to be a chain story, but my co-author/pre-reader disappeared so it looks like I'll be going it alone. As a result, this thing is rather unpolished. There is also an almost zero chance that I'll continue it, although I may change my mind depending on REVIEWS. Come on you lazy bastards, review! I'm not asking for that much, am I?

**_Love Hina:  The Epilogue Chronicles_**

_"I'm leaving Hinata-Sou to Keitaro and the girl by his side."_

'What a strange dream,' thought Naru. 'Grandma Hina was back and she left Hinata-Sou to Keitaro and his fiancée, the girl by his side.' She stuck her hand out from under the sheets to test the temperature. 'It's time to get up. I wonder if Keitaro's up yet.' Getting out of the futon, Naru lifted the panel covering the hole linking her room with Keitaro's.

"Hey, Keitaro. Are you awake yet?"

There was no reply. In fact, there was nobody there.

"I wonder where the idiot is," thought Naru out loud.

"Keitaro! Wake up!" yelled Kaolla Suu as she bounded into the room. "Eh?" she exclaimed. "Where is he?"

"Ano... Urashima-sempai and Motoko are outside fighting again," answered Shinobu Maehara as she passed by in the hallway.

"Those two... " started Naru. 

The clash of steel could be heard the residents of Hinata-Sou, accompanied by shouts from the two combatants. Keitaro and Motoko were in the yard, running around and leaving destruction in their wake. 

"Come back here, Urashima!"

Keitaro turned around in time to deflect one of Motoko's blows. "Motoko-chan, stop being so violent!"

"I'll stop being violent when you stop running away!"

"No way," replied Keitaro as he turned to run again.

"Are you a man or not? Stand your ground!"

That comment got to Keitaro and he decided enough was enough. He turned to counterattack, taking a fierce swing in Motoko's direction. Motoko sidestepped just in time to avoid it.

"You're getting better, Urashima!" she said, getting into stance in the process. "But you're still not good enough for this! Shinmeiryu ougi..."

'There's the opening,' thought Keitaro, 'Go!' Charging in, he aimed at the unguarded torso of the Shinmeiryu master, stopping the attack before contact was made. 

"Ahh!" exclaimed Motoko, having had her move halted.

"... Looks like... I... won," puffed Keitaro.

"H-how did you..."

"I've... seen that... enough times to... know it was... coming."

"Wah! How," cried Motoko. "How could this idiot defeat me?"

Naru, Kaolla and Shinobu arrived outside, but not in time to see the fight. All they saw was a crying Motoko, and Keitaro standing there.

"Keitaro! You made Motoko-chan cry!" exclaimed Naru, winding up for the punch.

"Wait, Narusegawa! I can explain!" said Keitaro, holding his hands up defensively.

"Okay, then. Let's hear it," she said, her fist still ready to hit him.

Keitaro took a deep breath and prepared himself. "Motoko-chan dragged me out here to train with her this morning and I didn't want to but I did anyway and we started fighting and she told me to fight back so I did and I won and she got upset and started crying so please don't hit me Narusegawa because it wasn't really my fault!"

"You liar, Keitaro! You can't defeat Motoko-chan," said Naru, punching Keitaro across the yard.

"Actually Naru-sempai," said Motoko, wiping the tears from her eyes, "Urashima was telling the truth."

"Eh!?" exclaimed the others.

"Cool!" said Kaolla. "Keitaro won! He's invincible!" She started bouncing up and down excitedly.

"Urashima-sempai won? But he's not a violent person..."

"Naru-sempai, wasn't that a bit over the top?" asked Motoko.

"That's right," agreed Shinobu. "You should have more trust in him, since you two are..." Her eyes went googly and she flapped her arms about. "Sorry about prying into your relationship!" she yelled, running back to the inn.

"Wait, Shinobu-chan!" shouted Naru, but she was already gone.

"Naru-sempai, I'm going back inside to eat breakfast." Motoko headed back, joined by Kaolla talking about what she wanted to eat.

Naru saw Keitaro heading back to the inn. "Hey Keitaro," she called, "wait up," but he ignored her.

The residents of Hinata-Sou were eating breakfast in the dining room, each of them with their meal of choice. Motoko was sticking to her warrior's diet, while Kaolla was enjoying a banana with her cereal. Shinobu was eating a traditional Japanese breakfast of rice, miso soup and a side dish. Kitsune, who had just woken up, was accompanying her sake with a croissant. Keitaro and Naru settled for a western breakfast of eggs on toast and a mug of coffee. This morning, however, they were sitting on opposite sides of the table. Keitaro looked a little upset while Naru had a sad look on her face.

"What's up with them?" asked Kitsune of Shinobu.

"Naru-sempai hit Urashima-sempai again," she whispered with a sigh.

"But she always hits him."

"I don't know why Urashima-sempai is so upset this time."

They looked at the couple, noticing that Keitaro was deliberately avoiding Naru's gaze.

"I'm finished. Excuse me," said Keitaro, heading off to the kitchen to clean his dishes. Naru raised a hand to stop him, but he had already left.

"Keitaro, Keitaro," called Naru, but to no avail. Keitaro continued walking down the hallway, completely ignoring her. 'Why is Keitaro so angry? Was it something I did?' thought Naru. She frowned. 'I don't like it when Keitaro's like this.' She followed Keitaro to his bedroom and went in when he didn't respond to her knocking.

"Keitaro, why are you so upset? Is it something I said?"

"No."

'Good,' thought Naru. 'At least he's talking to me again.' She placed her hand on his shoulder. "Please, Keitaro, tell me what's wrong."

"I thought you trusted me, Narusegawa. You know how I hate lying but you still accuse me of it. You can probably remember the last time I lied. I try so hard to be truthful to you but it seems as though all my efforts are for nothing..."

"Oh, Keitaro," said Naru, "I'm so sorry. I... I didn't realise..." Naru seemed rather ashamed at what she had done. "Sorry," she said, eyes downcast. 

Keitaro's frown turned into a slight smile, knowing how hard it was for her to apologize for anything. 

"Yeah, I know. It's just that…" Keitaro sighed. "You're forgiven."

"Really?"

"Really."

Naru gently slipped her hand into his, and pulled his out of his room. "Come on, stupid. It's time to go." Naru looked happier than she had been all morning. 

**************************************

"So, does anybody need a ride to school?" asked Keitaro.

"Ano, no thanks Urashima-sempai. It's such a nice day so I think I'll... umm... walk and take the tram," said Shinobu awkwardly.

"We will accompany Shinobu," said Motoko, "won't we Kaolla?"

"But I want to ride the crazy taxi..." she pouted.

Keitaro face-faulted from the reaction from the girls. "Come on! My driving isn't that bad. I found out which pedal was the brake pedal last week."

"We'd rather walk," said Motoko. "None of us have a death wish."

"Don't worry, Keitaro. I'll ride with you."

"Thanks, Narusegawa," said Keitaro. "We'd better hurry. Mutsumi-san needs a ride too." He grabbed her hand and towed her towards the door.

"Slow down, Keitaro!"

**************************************

Keitaro honked the horn on his van as they waited outside the residence of Mutsumi Otohime.

"I wonder what's taking her so long," wondered Keitaro.

"Girls do take longer to get ready," replied his companion.

"But still..."

The couple spent several minutes of companionable silence together before either of them spoke again.

"This is getting ridiculous," said Naru. "She shouldn't be taking this long."

"Let's go and check on her. Maybe Mutsumi-san fainted again."

Keitaro stepped out of the van, followed closely by Naru. They rang the doorbell that was promptly answered by Mutsumi, still dressed in her bedclothes.

"Ara, good morning. I was wondering who was making such a racket." She then lowered her voice and whispered to the duo standing outside. "When you're making out in the driver's seat, be careful not to bump the horn."

"Mutsumi-san! We weren't making out!" exclaimed Keitaro and Naru.

"Why aren't you changed?" asked Naru.

"Changed? Into what? A flying turtle?"

"I meant your clothes. We have to go to university today."

"Ara, do we?"

"Yes!" answered the other two.

"Come on, Narusegawa," said Keitaro. "Let's wait in the van."

After a few moments, Mutsumi appeared in her usual skirt and sweater. As soon as she entered the van, Keitaro started driving.

"Oh no."

"What is it, Narusegawa?"

"We're late, Keitaro! We're late! Step on it!"

Keitaro stepped on the accelerator and the van lurched forward, pressing its occupants against their seats. They weaved haphazardly through the early morning traffic, barely missing the other cars on the road. At one stags the van hit the curb and continued moving on two wheels.

"This reminds me of an episode of Liddo-kun and Friends. Liddo-kun and his buddies woke up late one day so they had to take the quick but dangerous route to school. They all worked together to get past the obstacles and they eventually got to school, but they were still late so they got expelled."

"..."

"Like that!" said Mutsumi.

"No, Mutsumi-san, not 'like that'!" said Naru, slightly agitated.

"Ara ara."

The van hit a big bump and Mutsumi flew out of her seat, hitting the roof. The impact knocked her out cold.

"Mutsumi-san fainted again."

"We can take care of it later," said Keitaro. "She'll wake up when we get there." He swerved hard to avoid a couple of incoming cars. They honked their horns at them.

"Keitaro, watch out!"

**************************************

Naru had just finished her tutorial class when she bumped into Mutsumi, who was coming out of a nearby building. 

"Naru-san, over here!" called Mutsumi over the crowd.

"Oh, Mutsumi-san! Did your class just finish?"

"I've got two hours break now. What about you?"

"I've got two hours off too. Keitaro should be off in half a hour," answered Naru, checking her watch.

"Why don't we find somewhere to wait for him?" suggested Mutsumi.

"How about the cafeteria?"

Mutsumi nodded her consent and they made their way down the concourse. When they got there the cafeteria was already filled to the brim with students and staff eating their lunches and socialising. There was barely standing room.

"Well, that kills that idea," said Naru. "Let's go to the courtyard instead."

They walked out of the cafeteria to sit outside on a bench. Even though it was slightly overcast, a bit of sun still peeked through the clouds, making it pleasant enough for people to stay outside. In fact, it was quite crowded; with many students taking a well deserved break out of doors. Even the almost-heliophobic Tokyo University students needed fresh air occasionally.

"How's the first day back been for you, Naru-san?"

"Oh, the usual. Course outlines, work briefings... you know what it's like."

"At least we don't have any homework yet."

"Yeah..."

They continued to enjoy the ambient outdoor atmosphere, watching students and lecturers come and go as they moved off to their classes.

"I wonder how Urashima-kun is enjoying his first day."

"I'm not sure. Everybody else in his classes had already been here for a year. He probably has some catching up to do."

"I hope he's alright."

'Mutsumi-san cares for Keitaro so much,' thought Naru. 'I wonder if I should ask her about... It's only fair, I guess, and it's been on my mind for a while...' She steeled herself to ask her question.

"Um, Mutsumi-san, can I ask you something?"

"What is it, Naru-san?"

"Um... That is..."

'Damn it!' Naru chastised herself. 'Why can't I just say it?'

"Hmm?" prompted Mutsumi.

"I thought I just saw Keitaro over there, but I guess I was wrong." Naru tried to laugh it off. "Oh, here he is now. Keitaro!" she called.

"Hey, Narusegawa. Mutsumi-san," greeted Keitaro.

"Hey, yourself," said Naru. "Shall we go to lunch?"

"Yeah, let's. Mutsumi-san, are you coming along?"

"No thanks. I'll let you two spend some time alone."

"Okay, Mutsumi-san," said Naru. "See you later, then." She took Keitaro's hand in hers and they proceeded to find somewhere for lunch. 

Keitaro was the tiniest bit surprised when she grabbed his hand in hers. Not that he wasn't pleased about it. He just wasn't used to her touching him in a non-threatening way yet. They hadn't had the opportunity to do this much, with one thing or another happening. 'Her hand is so soft,' he thought. 'I hope she doesn't mind that my hands are calloused from digging. That's funny, when she hits me they feel like rocks.'

"Hey Keitaro, what are you thinking about?"

"Oh, nothing important," replied Keitaro. "Where are we heading? Aren't we going to lunch?"

"We have to buy lunch first, idiot."

"But I have lunch right here," said Keitaro, pointing to his bag. "I made it this morning."

"You did? In that case, we should be going that-a-way," said Naru, pulling Keitaro in the opposite direction.

"Hey, wait up!"

**************************************

Naru really liked this spot. Not too many people knew about it, which meant it was nice and quiet. It was quite strange to find parkland in the middle of Tokyo, something that was exaggerated by the height of the skyscrapers surrounding it. Yet here it was, a tiny piece of Eden in the centre of one of the busiest cities in the world. 

"Well, here's your lunch," said Keitaro.

"Oh, thank you." Naru opened the box and found a neatly packed, perfectly edible lunch. "Are you sure you made this? Did Shinobu-chan make it?"

"Of course I did! Why would I lie for?"

"Oh, sorry! But I've never seen you cook before..."

"I was on my own for a year so I had to survive somehow. It's not like Seta-sensei can cook properly."

They continued to eat their lunch in silence, enjoying the scenery around them. On a nearby bench were two old men playing chess, although it looked as though they had turned it into a drinking game. Every time they lost a piece they took a swig out of their bottle of beer. A toddler was busy chasing a butterfly, running and squealing whenever he was close with his mother chasing after him. 

"Keitaro, say ahh..."

"Ahh..." Keitaro opened his mouth without paying attention. Before he knew it he had a dumpling in his mouth. Keitaro looked extremely surprised. 

"What?" Naru looked curious.

"No-nothing," replied Keitaro after swallowing. "I'm not used to this yet, that's all."

"You better get used to it, idiot." Naru punched his shoulder softly to exclaim her point.

"Yes ma'am!"

**************************************

"Welcome back to all of you. I taught quite a few of you last year, but for those who don't know me, my name is Atsushi Noguchi, and I'll be your lecturer this semester. Calling me Atsushi-san would be fine. Please don't use 'sensei', it my title and not my name. Outside of lecture times, you'll find me in my office, which is in building HC room 401. "

Keitaro remembered him from his time working with Seta-san. Atsushi-san was a middle aged, short round man with a small bald patch on the top of his head. He was quite a nice guy, though he got thoroughly enthusiastic when using any heavy excavation equipment. 

"Now that we have the introductions done, on with the work. This semester we're dealing with early European cultures, starting with the cultures of what is now Great Britain and finishing at Russia. You don't need to copy any of this down, it's all written on the course outline. Just download it from the student website when you get home." He proceeded to write down the website on the board. 

"Excuse me, you're new here, aren't you?" whispered someone to the right of Keitaro

"Yeah."

"I'm Sousuke. Nice to meet you."

"I'm Keitaro."

"That guy over there, he's Rui. "And this one," glaring at the girl who was elbowing him in the ribs to shut him up, "she's Maho." He stopped talking when the girl finally had enough and hit him over the head with her fist.

"Ouch!"

"Don't worry about this guy," said Maho. "He's a real idiot."

Rui started sniggering for no apparent reason. 

"And Rui's just plain weird," she added. 

"Thanks for the advice," replied Keitaro.

Atsushi-san continued with his lecture. "As you all probably know, Great Britain comprises of several islands separated from the main European continent, much like Japan is separated from the rest of Asia. This, however, doesn't mean that it hasn't had its fair share of conflicts…"

**************************************

Keitaro left the lecture hall, eager to go home. 'This trend is bad,' he thought. 'It's my first day and I'm already tired of school.' A hand came from behind the wall, pushing against his chest and blocking his path.

"What the..." Keitaro exclaimed before being punched halfway down the corridor. 

Keitaro sat on the floor, rubbing his head. "That hurt!"

Naru stood in front of him, glaring down at him through her glasses. 

"What was that for, Narusegawa?"

"Making me wait for you."

"It's not my fault that my timetable's like that. Everybody in my course is in that class."

"..."

"You could've gone home without me."

"But I didn't want to..." Naru pouted.

"Alright, let's go home then," said Keitaro, standing up and brushing himself off. Naru took Keitaro's hand in hers and they headed off towards the car park. 

"What about Mutsumi-san?" asked Keitaro.

"She's gone home already. She didn't have to wait for anyone," said Naru, nose in the air.

"Okay, already. I get it. Thank you for waiting for me."

"You're welcome," Naru smiled sweetly.

Keitaro rolled his eyes in exasperation. 

"I saw that," Naru pouted, slapping playfully on the arm. 

"Hey! Quit that!" Keitaro tried unsuccessfully to fend off her slaps as they made their way to the van. 

"Maybe we should go out for dinner tonight."

"We can't do that, Narusegawa. Shinobu-chan is expecting us to be back."

"Oh, right. We could go out to dinner next week then."

"Okay, next week."

**************************************

Keitaro lay in bed, trying to fall asleep after a somewhat long day. He wasn't particularly tired, but he had to go to bed in order to wake up early the next morning. His mind began to wander from one thing to another, not particularly focusing on any topic but not exactly focusing on them either. As they usually did, his thoughts tended to drift back to a girl, one that was currently in the room above his. He could hear the soft thumping of her feet and the quiet creaking of the floor as she prepared to go to bed, as well as the gentle spring breeze blowing outside. 'The weather was nice today,' thought Keitaro. 'Not too hot, not too cold. Eating lunch in the park was nice. Being with Narusegawa at Todai was nice, too.'

"Keitaro," he heard a voice whisper. "Are you asleep yet?" Keitaro squinted hard to see what was apparently Liddo-kun peeking through the hole in his ceiling. 

"No, not yet," replied Keitaro. 

"I'm coming down, okay?"

"Yeah."

Naru came down through the hole, still clutching onto the Liddo doll. She landed with a dull thud, and walked towards Keitaro's futon. Sitting on top of the sheets, she clutched Liddo-kun close to her and pulled her knees up to her chest. Keitaro sat up to join her. 

"What's the matter Narusegawa? Is something wrong?"

"No, nothing's wrong."

"It won't be very funny if any of the others catch us together at this time of the night." Keitaro could feel the blood rising to his cheeks.

"I'm not staying, stupid. I just wanted to talk to you about something," said Naru, blushing as well as she realized where she was. 

A somewhat awkward moment of silence passed by as they processed their thoughts. Finally one of them gathered their thoughts another to form a sentence. 

"What did you want to talk about?" Keitaro turned to face Naru. 

"Now that we're… dating… you know, seriously," she said, fiddling with the Liddo-kun in her hands. "No, let me start again. Um, Keitaro, do you remember what Grandma Hina said before she left? I'm not sure… I'm not sure if I remembered it correctly."

"Well she said that you were the girl from the promise, and that she would leave the inn to me and the girl by my side, and that she would recognize the girl by my side as… my… bride…" Keitaro slowed as the implications of those words settled in. Both of them continued to sit there, blushing furiously. 

"Guess I remembered it correctly," whispered Naru. 

"Yeah," Keitaro whispered. 

"So, does that mean…"

"I like you a lot, Narusegawa, but I don't know what might happen in the future."

"So, it's not a proposal?"

"Well, I haven't really made a proper proposal yet…"

The couple continued to sit there in silence, neither of them really having anything more to say. 

"Well, you better make it good, or I won't accept."

"What?!"

"You heard me. It better be nice and romantic and everything, or else I'll say no." Naru whacked Keitaro over the head with her Liddo-kun. "Goodnight, pervert."

"Goodnight."

Naru left the room leaving Keitaro with his own thoughts.

"How the hell am I supposed to sleep now?"


End file.
